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April 14, 2015

Watch This: 2015, Vol. 3

Over the past few days, this site’s been running a campaign to get one of its most important cornerstones back. When the Watch This series was first brought into existence, it was done out of admiration- but also frustration. For whatever reason, great live footage never quite gets its due. Outside of rare exceptions (Scorsese’s The Last Waltz comes to mind), it’s an overlooked format. Reduced to miniature, it has an almost non-existent footprint. Yet, the very best of these clips hinge on the abilities of both filmmaker(s) and the central subject and are treasured fiercely by the people invested in either side. There’s a common ground between film and music that these clips manage to accentuate and exploit when they’re operating at their highest level, they represent multimedia formatting at its finest. Watch This was designed to amend the medium’s inexplicable reduction, Every Sunday, the installment would feature five of the strongest live clips of the week in some small effort to amend the egregious exclusion of a central focus for live footage.

Since 2015 started, like everything else, I’ve been amassing a list of some of the strongest entries in this category and this post marks the last of the trilogy making up the 15 or so weeks that made up 2015’s first quarter. There’s a heavy emphasis on interview-heavy clips and full sets, with healthy numbers for KEXP, BreakThruRadio, and Pitchfork. DIY culture is mostly fully embedded in Pupppy’s set at the endearingly named Dong Island and the whole playlist is bookended by two of the finest live videos of the year. Each of those two clips comes courtesy of NPR, with a full Sleater-Kinney set providing an exhilarating opening and a devastating Torres lullaby clip bringing the proceedings to a hushed, haunting close. Regular Watch This will resume on Sunday and continue weekly. Now, the video player below contains hours worth of material so it’s not something that’s probably going to be watched start-to-finish- but it can certainly be bookmarked and all of it is worth seeing (and, just as importantly, hearing). So, with all that mind, sit back, crank the volume, take a drink, settle in, and Watch This.

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1. Sleater-Kinney (NPR)
2. Bully – Trying (Pitchfork)
3. Mike Pace and the Child Actors (TCGS)
4. Fred Thomas (BreakThruRadio)
5. Swervedriver – Autodidact (KEXP)
6. Menace Beach (3voor12)
7. Waxahatchee – Coast to Coast (Pitchfork)
8. Literature (BreakThruRadio)
9. Fat Supper – Mind Your Head #14 (MOWNO)
10. Francisco The Man (KEXP)
11. Nots (BreakThruRadio)
12. Title Fight – Mrahc (Pitchfork)
13. White Reaper – The Cut (BreakThruRadio)
14. GRMLN – Night Racer (Amoeba)
15. Girl Band (KEXP)
16. METZ – Nervous System (Pitchfork)
17. Popstrangers (BreakThruRadio)
18. Laura Stevenson – Bells And Whistles (Space Jam Sessions)
19. Jenny Lewis – Just One of the Guys (Jimmy Kimmel Live)
20. Strand of Oaks – For Me (Amoeba)
21. Pupppy (Dong Island)
22. Krill – Foot (WKNC)
23. Museum Mouth (WKNC)
24. La Luz – Call Me In The Day (KEXP)
25. Torres – A Proper Polish Welcome (NPR)

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April 12, 2015

Watch This: 2015, Vol. 1

Familiar faces. Single Songs. Full sets. New bands. It’s been 15 weeks since the last Watch This ran on this site and that’s far, far too long. To help get things up to date, the next three days will see a trilogy of video mixtapes containing 25 of the best live clips to surface from 2015 so far. Next week, the installment will resume its normally paced functions- but for now, clear out some time and get lost in the exciting performances compiled in the embed below. Lean back, turn the volume up, breathe deep, and Watch This.

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1. Waxahatchee – Under A Rock (Pitchfork)
2. Tenement – Dreaming Out Loud (Don Giovanni Records)
3. Crying – Sick (BreakThruRadio)
4. Beach Slang (NPR)
5. Speedy Ortiz – The Graduates (Pitchfork)
6. Francisco the Man – In the Corners (Audiotree)
7. Single Mothers – Overdose (Radio K)
8. Sleater-Kinney – Modern Girl (Sound Opinions)
9. Nude Beach + Jody Stephens – My Life Is Right (Don Giovanni Records)
10. Mutts – Five of a Kind (Audiotree)
11. Sun Club – Beauty Meat (Audiotree)
12. Crow Bait – Separate Stations (Don Giovanni Records)
13. Courtney Barnett – An Illustration of Loneliness (Sleepless in New York (Pitchfork)
14. Matthew E. White – Rock & Roll Is Cold (The Current)
15. Makthaverskan – Witness (Pitchfork)
16. Chief Scout – Rollercoaster (Audiotree)
17. Mal Blum – San Cristóbal (Don Giovanni Records)
18. DYGL – Let’s Get Into Your Car (Out of Town Films)
19. American Aquarium – Losing Side of Twenty Five (Jam in the Van)
20. Charles Bradley – The World (Is Going Up In Flames) (Coachella)
21. Sue the Night – The Whale (3FM)
22. Kevin Devine – Bubblegum (Little Elephant)
23. Ride – Vapour Trail (Coachella)
24. The Dodos (KEXP)
25. Cloakroom – Lossed Over + Moon Funeral (Little Elephant)

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December 15, 2014

Watch This: Vol. 62

[Please refer to Vol. 59 for the introductory paragraph.]

1. Lower – Bastard Tactics (Radio K)

Seek Warmer Climes was a restless and unforgiving record that found Lower making huge strides and revealing a widescreen ambition. “Bastard Tactics” was one of the standout moments and a song that suggested the band was in search of something more. Radio K let the band invade its studios and filmed them as they tore the subtly foreboding “Bastard Tactics” to shreds.

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2. Perfect Pussy (Pitchfork)

No band has meant more to this site than Perfect Pussy. No band has been covered on this site more than Perfect Pussy. Why? Time plays a factor; the band was just starting to emerge when the site was just starting. Perfect Pussy’s politics match up with what this site strives to enforce either implicitly or explicitly. Their music exists on a spectrum that this site was built to support and the band readily embraces a DIY ethos that this site was built to celebrate. They’ve become one of the most divisive bands of the last several years and incited a staggering amount of vitriol over policies built off of an empathetic foundation. Vocalist Meredith Graves has emerged as one of the stronger voices in a variety of things that can no longer be neglected and has penned some of the most memorable lyrics of the past two years. While a lot of these statements are extremely subjective, one thing isn’t: this band lives for the live setting. No matter how battered they are mentally or physically, no matter how much adversity they’re (somewhat inexplicably) forced to face, and no matter how downright exhausted they are, one thing never changes: they transform into extremes of themselves after all of their amps are up and running. Graves may be on the verge of losing her voice because of her repeatedly public exorcisms (which are often violent) of extremely personal information while on stage and things may sound like their threatening to fall apart at any given second but that’s part of what makes the band fascinating. There’s a palpable sense of danger and uncertainty that the band conjures up while they’re on whatever stage they’re given and, no matter how rough things get, they’ve never failed to come out of the other side grinning through their collective grimace, that much stronger for the battle. Their marathon set for Pitchfork Paris? No exception.

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3. Strand of Oaks – Mirage Year (Out of Town Films)

Strand of Oaks’ Heal was as immersive and elegiac as just about anything to have been released over the past 12 months. Easily the band’s finest work to date, it saw them expanding on early promise in leaps and bounds. “Mirage Year” was one of the most startlingly gorgeous moments on an already unreasonably strong album. Out Of Town Films set up camp and turned their lenses on the band as they set to work on delivering a jaw-dropping performance that only gets stronger as it goes, with everything culminating in a breathtaking guitar freakout that brings the song to a smoky close. Add in some top-tier cinematography and the end result’s not only inexplicably moving- it’s also one of the best live clips this series has ever had in its ranks. Watch it below.

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4. Ought (Pitchfork)

Was there any record more unexpected this year than Ought’s More Than Any Other Day? More importantly, how many were as brilliant? For just about 46 minutes, the band fearlessly collapses the connections between post-punk, electro-pop, noise-punk, and brit-pop while exploring the lightly-treaded territories that best suit their whimsy. More than just about any record, More Than Any Other Day sounded like a mission statement that was shot straight through with youthful abandon, disregard for conventionalism, and a slightly askew professionalism. Endearingly spastic and undeniably strange, their set for Pitchfork Paris becomes hypnotic and nearly impossible to evade once it’s in motion. Piercing and precise, the band’s already shockingly close to a willfully weird perfection.

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5. La Sera – Hour of the Dawn (Last Call With Carson Daly)

In 2013, Mikal Cronin made his name known by virtue of releasing the perfect summer album in MCII. La Sera came dangerously close to achieving the same thing this year with the towering Hour of the Dawn. Last Call With Carson Daly has been the most music-centric late night network television program going for some time now, allotting multiple-song performances to their featured artists on a regular basis. As was previously mentioned, even in crowded company, La Sera’s stood out as one of the best the show’s ever seen. “Hour of the Dawn” is the second of the three songs to be featured in one episode- and in this setting, it comes vibrantly alive.

[Due to some technical issues, this video can only currently be seen here.]

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December 7, 2014

Watch This: Best of 2014 (Video Mixtape)

Live music videos never seem to get the emphasis they deserve. It’s part of why Watch This was created; to celebrate stunning documents of equally stunning performances. A good band can make a great record but a truly great band usually excels in the live setting. With 2014 winding to a close (and with another 100 posts in the past), it seemed appropriate to start reflecting on some of the year’s best offerings. Lists of LP’s, EP’s, 7″ releases, and more will be forthcoming but today the focus will fall on live clips. And, yes, 2014’s not quite over yet and there will be a few weeks worth of live clips to consider (in addition to the past few weeks, which will be focused on in the posts immediately following this one) and “best” is still subjective- but the videos contained in this mix were simply too good to just feature once. If there’s enough material, an appendix will be added around the start of next year.

To be eligible for this video mixtape, the videos involved had to have been previously featured in Watch This and not contain an interview sequence. Full sets were ruled out as well (with a lone exception being made for one of 2014’s best videos in any capacity to provide a sense of closure to the proceedings). These videos were pulled in from as many places as possible with only Chart Attack, La Blogotheque, and Little Elephant making repeat entries (with two each). From the painfully gorgeous (Mutual Benefit, Angel Olsen) to sublime perfection (Radiator Hospital, Little Big League) to the absurdly impressive (Kishi Bashi) to the most electric late night performance of 2014 (Ty Segall), there’s a little something for everyone. 25 clips are included and listed below, with a hyperlink provided to their respective installments in Watch This‘ always expanding catalog. Since this brings the site to another 100 post mark, hyperlinks will be provided to posts 300-399 for anyone interested in checking out past material. With all of this exposition out of the way, there’s really only one thing left to do: sit back, focus up, and Watch This.

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1. Audacity – Counting the Days (Jam in the Van) — vol. 24
2. Greys – Guy Picciotto (Chart Attack) — vol. 24
3. Radiator Hospital – Fireworks (BNTYK) — vol. 51
4. Ovlov – Where’s My Dini? (Little Elephant) — vol. 23
5. Frankie Cosmos – Embody (Radio K) — vol. 55
6. Mean Creek – My Madeline (Wondering Sound) — vol. 19
7. Joanna Gruesome – Anti-Parent Cowboy Killers (BTR) — vol. 51
8. Sweet John Bloom – Aging In Place (Allston Pudding) — vol. 48
9. Emilyn Brodsky – Someone Belongs Here (TCGS) — vol. 28
10. Mitski – First Love // Late Spring (bandwidth) — vol. 43
11. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Jubilee Street (ACL) — vol. 54
12. Sharon Van Etten – Serpents (Pitchfork) — vol. 40
13. Mutual Benefit – C.L. Rosarian (Bruxelles Ma Belle) — vol. 19
14. Angel Olsen – Enemy (La Blogotheque) — Vol. 11
15. Kishi Bashi – Philosophize In It! Chemicalize In It! (WNYC) — vol. 29
16. Little Big League – Year of the Sunhouse (Little Elephant) — vol. 45
17. Screaming Females – It All Means Nothing (Audiotree) — vol. 27
18. Ty Segall – Feel (Conan) — vol. 40
19. Dilly Dally – Candy Mountain (Chart Attack) — vol. 51
20. Cloud Nothings – Now Hear In (Amoeba) — vol. 57
21. MOURN – Otits (Captured Tracks) — vol. 53
22. Courtney Barnett – History Eraser (KEXP) — vol. 34
23. Lee Fields – Don’t Leave Me This Way (La Blogotheque) — vol. 54
24. Jenny Lewis – Slippery Slopes (KCRW) — vol. 52
25. Saintseneca (NPR) — vol. 38

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October 6, 2014

Watch This: Vol. 49

To start: this won’t be today’s last post. This will be this week’s Watch This, though, as next Sunday’s going to be devoted to work for an upcoming feature. Additionally, last week brought forth an embarrassment of riches and one Watch This just wasn’t enough to cover everything. All of that is to say that this will be another non-conventional installment that will offer a small break from the regularly scheduled every-Sunday appearance of this series. In the 49th installment, the performances take place in everything from small shops to late night talk shows and festival aftershows. Every performance is committed and provides some insight into the level of dedication these bands put into their live set. It’s all worth taking a few beats to take in- so, as always- sit back, focus in, turn the volume up, take a deep breath, and Watch This.

1. Ty Segall – Manipulator (KCRW)

It’s strange to see the Ty Segall Band playing in an environment this contained- and it’s evident the band’s doing their best not to jump out of their skin while they tear through the title track off this year’s excellent Manipulator. Even if the band can’t exercise their usual being-shocked-to-death style movements as freely as they’d be able to without the restraints of their headphones, this is still one hell of a performance- and a great reminder to see them as many times as possible.

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2. Mountain Bike – Good for Nothing (Bruxelles Ma Belle)

As what will likely be an introduction to Mountain Bike for many, it’d be impossible to ask for something more artfully executed than their recent session for Bruxelles Ma Belle. Shot in a small store, the band delivers a performance of the excellent “Good for Nothing” with an infectious amount of verve. Gorgeously lensed and perfectly executed, it’s enough to suggest that Mountain Bike are just getting started.

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3. Posse – Shut Up (Pitchfork)

Any time a band shares the stage with METZ (whose performance at this show was featured in yesterday’s Watch This), it’s going to be difficult for that band to hold their own. That Posse manages to do so while playing a much more downtrodden, folk-influenced variant of post-punk is a feat that can’t be overlooked. “Shut Up” is an arresting performance of hypnotic proportions and, by being just that, easily secured Posse an entry in this volume.

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4. The So So Glos – Diss Town (Last Call With Carson Daly)

How the hell does Blowout keep sounding better? The So So Glos‘ breakthrough effort from last year was full of a joyous strain of music that perfectly married basement punk with basement pop and having neither influence outshadow the other. Live, the band manages to up the already considerable levels of energy, turning their shows into mass singalongs that border the cathartic (which is why this band has been showing up in this series since the very first installment). Everyone’s in on it together, the band, the audience, and the people the band brings in- like the trumpet player and the person in the wings who looks like he’s having the time of his life less than a minute into this no-brakes performance of “Diss Town”. Don’t be the only one left out of the party- everyone’s always invited.

[Due to some temporary embed issues this video can only be seen here.]

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5. Mount Eerie – Emptiness (Pinball Sessions)

P.W. Elverum has been making breathtaking music for several years now, under a variety of different guises. Mount Eerie has always been the one that’s stood out, thanks in part to Elverum’s fearlessness in regards to form and expectations. From relentlessly heavy sections that threaten to take post-rock into the realms of doned-out doom to the blissfully melancholic, it’s anything but predictable. Seeing Elverum strip away all of the ambient soundscapes to deliver a solo piano performance is an arresting experience for a myriad of reasons, each pointing to one simple fact: this is an artistic voice that still warrants our full attention.

October 5, 2014

Watch This: Vol. 48

The 48th installment of Watch This reads like a laundry list of this site’s favorite places to cull videos from; Allston Pudding, The Chris Gethard Show, and Little Elephant among them. Live versions of songs that have previously been fawned over resurface with new levels of urgency and old treasures prove their longevity. Every performance that gets featured here is impassioned and clearly illustrates the respective band’s obvious connections to their own music (with a strain of apathy-fueled music growing steadily prominent, this is- unfortunately- more of a rarity than common occurrence). Trying to wax poetic about most of these videos in this paragraph would most likely just wind up doing them a disservice, so: sit back, turn the volume up, ignore the time, lean in, and Watch This.

1. Little Big League – Property Line (Little Elephant)

There hasn’t been a band in quite a while to pull off what Little Big League achieves by virtue of this placement; this is their third consecutive video to appear in this series- in as many weeks- and they’re all from the same Little Elephant session. So, some straight talk: “Property Line” is one of the year’s best songs and the band’s current career-best effort. Even though the live version doesn’t have the benefit of those chill-inducing horns, it retains its formidable pull. As always, the band reveals themselves to be an excellent live act and provides several reasons to get excited about their upcoming LP, Tropical Jinx.

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2. Sweet John Bloom – Aging In Place (Allston Pudding)

Allston Pudding’s made a habit of making impressive live videos- this outstrips all of their previous work with an assured ease and a new level of confidence that suits them well. An extraordinary live-edit that features a stunning performance from emerging act Sweet John Bloom to promote their upcoming full-length, Weird Prayer. Expertly marrying high-energy basement pop with deliriously frantic post-punk, it’s inclusion would have been an easy decision as an isolated standalone- the additional edits towards the video’s close put it way over the top and render it one of the more artistically inclined live videos to ever appear in this series. Don’t skip out on this one.

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3. Protomartyr (La Blogotheque)

Protomartyr’s Under Color of Official Right was one of the highlights of 2014’s first quarter and it’s held its ground ever since its release. Here, the band teams up with La Blogotheque to film stripped-back live performances of “What the Well Said” and “Scum, Rise!” in the moats of Saint-Malo, a port city in France. It’s a fitting backdrop for the band’s take on post-punk, something that bears the influence of their Detroit home. Unsurprisingly, it’s spectacularly shot and bizarrely compelling, continuing La Blogotheque’s unique penchant for producing live footage that excels on those levels.

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4. Jeff Rosentstock & Friends – Hey Allison! (TCGS)

Don Giovanni comedy darling Chris Gethard hosts a show. These shows host live acts. It seems that nearly every time a video of these performances surfaces, it earns a spot in this series. Jeff Rosenstock‘s “Hey Allison!” has already emerged as one of the more relentless earworms of the past few weeks and the live version is an all-out blitz. Anytime anyone puts this much heart into music this good, it’s going to earn a write-up. The Chris Gethard Show also has the unique advantage of utilizing a crowd of misfits being encouraged to be as weird as possible, turning single song performances into outright events. There are few things more encouraging than watching a band and an audience enjoy each other’s company in equal measure at an absurdly high degree. This is can’t-miss entertainment.

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5. METZ – Get Off! (Pitchfork)

METZ was one of the more unforgettable debuts of the past few years and the band’s live show, easily one of the best around, pushes those songs to exhilarating heights. Employing humanism and sonic annihilation at roughly the same pace, anytime the band takes the stage it’s a small victory for everyone involved. Here, they tear through a fired-up version of “Get Off” and incite some fierce reactions from an adoring crowd. METZ themselves remain as entertaining as ever, putting just about everything they have on the line every time they take the stage- and they’re showing no signs of slowing down.

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October 1, 2014

Speedy Ortiz – Doomsday (Stream)

Even on relatively quiet days, there will be things that warrant a paragraph’s worth of fawning. Today, that distinction could have gone to Big Ups’ gnashed-teeth brawler, “Rash“, just as easily as it could have fallen to We Come From the Same Place, a triumphant new record from Allo Darlin’. There were also attention-demanding examples of overblown visual weirdness that covered the DIY-professional production spread thanks to The New Pornographers and Krill, respectively. Even more left-field than those two videos was the video for “Never Catch Me“, the collaborative single between Flying Lotus and Kendrick Lamar off of the former’s upcoming You’re Dead– an easy 2014 highlight. While all were great for an array of (extremely) varying reasons, none of them hit home quite as hard as Speedy Ortiz’s “Doomsday”, a song that continues the band’s growth in mesmerizing fashion.

A lot of Speedy Ortiz’s most stunning material is tethered to a duality of feelings, whether it’s the wistful melodies contrasting the uplifting affirmations in “No Below” or a vulnerable paranoia being met by the relentless aggression of “American Horror“. It’s something the band seems to have an awareness of and likely why both of those songs wound up as singles. For all of Major Arcana‘s successes last year, the band could have easily used 2014 to coast on a victory lap. Instead, they’ve released an incredibly strong EP (Real Hair) an Adult Swim single (“Bigger Party“), and now they’re following those up with a stunning new effort for Famous Class Records’ LAMC series. “Doomsday” is a song that the band’s been playing out for a while and it’s been an easy set highlight each time thanks to the fact that it’s a genuinely great song. Easily one of Speedy Ortiz’s strongest works to date, it retains all of the elements that caused the band to be celebrated in the first place- only this time, all of those traits feel astonishingly complete. After a string of rightfully-acclaimed releases, Speedy Ortiz have found their identity and crafted something that feels wholly their own- and it’s extraordinary. How “Doomsday” can feel so weighted when nearly every small moment of it suggests something lighter is impossibly impressive; de facto bandleader Sadie Dupuis’ grasp on the material, strong enough to ensure that this is a band emerging musicians will look to as an influence in the years to come. If “Doomsday” is any indication of the material the band has in store, their next record could easily wind up being a classic. Until then, just listen to “Doomsday” on repeat and make sure to get out to one of the band’s upcoming dates with Ex Hex- because those shows won’t be worth missing.

Stream “Doomsday” below and order the 7″ (which is backed by a lovely acoustic track from Chris Weisman) from Famous Class’ bandcamp.

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September 21, 2014

Watch This: Vol. 46

Part two of this week’s recap (there really was an absurd amount of great material to go through), this installment of Watch This features videos that emerged during the past few days. Between a handful of full sets, a few videos from places that have become series staples, and, above all else, great performances. Everything on display here is worth taking some time to enjoy and a handful of them will likely warrant return visits. All in all, this set seems like a very fitting way to cap off what’s been one of the strongest weeks for new content that we’ve had this year. So, sit back, open the blinds, turn the volume all the way up, focus, and Watch This.

1. The Midwest Beat – Vortex Hole (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

“Vortex Hole” was recently featured here as a stream in support of The Midwest Beat’s excellent new full-length, Free of Being. In the video below, the Milwaukee-via-Madison band gets invited to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel studio to tear through the live version. They tear through it with an enviable amount of verve and a peculiar madcap glee that somehow transforms the performance into something endlessly fascinating. It’s one hell of a rendition.

[Due to a temporary embed issue, this video can currently only be seen here]

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2. Cloakroom – Asymmetrical (unARTigNYC)

“Asymmetrical” is a characteristically slow-burning song from Cloakroom, who seem to be exploring the middle ground between shoegaze and post-hardcore with a frightening amount of precision and clarity. Easily one of the most fascinating bands to have begun a steady emergence over the past handful of months, Cloakroom still retains a sense of mystery- something that factors directly into their music. This is an astonishing performance from a band that’s worth getting to know.

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3. The New Pornographers (NPR)

It’d be easy to argue that, at this point, The New Pornographers are an institution. Between their own releases and their various members solo releases, they’ve put out some of the most highly acclaimed music of this young century. It’s a formidable body of work and the fact that their most recent effort, Brill Bruisers, both lives up to and earns its spot among their long list of triumphs is fairly astonishing. This full, lovingly shot, NPR performance spans their discography and showcases one arguably indisputable fact: they deserve their acclaim and status.

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4. Beverly – Not Ours (BreakThruRadio)

Beverly, the duo made up of Frankie Rose and Drew Citron, released one of the definitive records of the summer with Careers. Ever since that release, footage of the band’s tight-knit live show’s been popping up with an alarming frequency. While Rose is taking some time off to focus on her own solo project, there are still old sessions coming out of the woodwork. Here’s a lighthearted stunner from the always-excellent BreakThruRadio.

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5. Cloud Nothings (Pitchfork)

There aren’t many moments in life that are better than watching a great band with extraordinary people on a perfect day. Cloud Nothings were an easy highlight of Pitchfork’s second day and now their whole set can be relived in full. Culling mostly from their 2014 highlight Here and Nowhere Else, their set went a long way in re-establishing the fact that they’re now a power trio (a term that they fully live up to). Not a lot of bands can lose a member and immediately re-define themselves without losing their personality but it’s evident that Cloud Nothings haven’t lost a step.

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September 16, 2014

Mitski – Townie (Stream)

It’s been an absolutely monstrous week for great new music and we’re not even halfway through it. First and foremost, it should be noted that Stereogum is now streaming LVL UP’s Hoodwink’d in full (this site’s current front-runner for Album of the Year), along with great new records from Spray Paint, Lower Plenty, and S. NPR, as always, has a few gems available in their First Listen series, King Tuff’s Black Moon Spell and Perfume Genius’ Too Bright among them. Wander on over to the unending sprawl that is bandcamp and there are a few new things to unearth, like Cancers’ Fatten the Leeches and the unreasonably compelling split that comes courtesy of Follies and Wishbone. Similarly, Pitchfork Advance is offering up an early stream of upcoming stunners from Whirr and Foxes in Fiction, Stay and Ontario Gothic, respectively. On the single song side of things, there were outstanding new tunes that surfaced from site favorites Krill, a revitalized The Twilight Sad, a resurgent The Jazz June, and an intriguing new shoegaze project born out of the Deafheaven camp going by the name Creepers. As if all of that weren’t enough, there were also standout music videos emerging from a few intriguing corners of the musical spectrum that generally gets covered here, mostly from artists that exist on the fringes of their genre- Kevin Morby, Angel Olsen, Hiss Golden Messenger on the folksier side of things and the punk-leaning acts being well represented by Pet Sun and PS I Love You.

With all of that now existing in the world, anything getting the feature spot today had to be spectacular. Mitski (who recently made an introductory appearance on this site via Watch This) proved up to the challenge with the gnarled-but-beautiful basement pop rager “Townie”. Unsurprisingly, this song (and Bury Me At Makeout Creek, the upcoming record it’s attached to) comes via Double Double Whammy- who, between LVL UP, Follies and Wishbone, Krill, and this, had themselves one hell of a day- cementing that label’s reputation as one of the most exciting things in music. Pulling in an equal amount of influence from punk, post-punk, 90’s scuzz, powerpop, soul, and 50’s pop, “Townie” reveals itself to be something immediate and sublime before the gift of a chorus kicks in. Easily one of 2014’s best songs, it skyrockets the expectations for Bury Me At Makeout Creek and acts as an unforgettable introduction-at-large for Mitski. Everything here works on an extraordinary level, from the floating vocals to the tambourine attack to the feedback screeches to the fucking theremin section. “Townie” is as defiant as it is triumphant, adding an impressive amount of gravity with an unflinchingly honest lyric set. Package it all together and it becomes something completely irresistible that approaches levels of transcendence. Music doesn’t get much better than this.

Listen to “Townie” below and pre-order Bury Me At Makeout Creek from Double Double Whammy here.

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August 31, 2014

Watch This: Vol. 42

Well, another week has come and gone, leaving a great set of live sets in its wake. From a pair of performance pairs courtesy of Jimmy Kimmel Live, another extraordinary edition to the Exploding in Sound takeover of BreakThruRadio’s excellent Serious Business series, a newly-surfaced trio of beautifully-lensed performance clips from Pitchfork, and a typically incendiary blast to the gut from one of Canada’s finest emerging artists, it was a great week for the long-form. There were, of course, a few other excellent videos that surfaced over the course of the past seven days- ranging from an excellent KEXP session from The Fresh & Onlys to performances that had personal stakes at hand (more on this tomorrow). There was a lot more to take in than usual but the five sets below earned their spots by virtue of approaching the transcendental. So, kick back, don’t dare turn the volume down, focus up, and Watch This.

1. Greys (Radio K)

Greys tore it up every time they took the stage during the whirlwind week that was NXNE. They’ve earned a fair amount of words from this site by not just making great music but by putting on great performances- and, in both cases, revealing a visible passion for what they’re doing- an increasing rarity. Here, they stop by the University of Minnesota’s student-run radio station, Radio K, to deliver a non-stop barrage of a performance. Turn the volume up and hold on to yr lid.

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2. Sharon Van Etten (Jimmy Kimmel Live)

Are We There has proven to be one of the year’s most engaging quieter records and has firmly established Van Etten at the forefront of her contemporaries. It’s a welcome development that feels as if it’s been justifiably earned. Van Etten was a force to be reckoned with right out of the gate, delivering performances like this attention-ensuring take of “Give Out” for BaebleMusic or lending even more emotional gravity to one of the most emotionally charged records of all time. So, after keeping an eye on Van Etten’s progress for the past six years or so, it’s thrilling to see her commanding as much attention and acclaim as she over the past few years. With more performances like these two stunning takes on “Tarifa” and “Break Me”, that critical and commercial ascension’s unlikely to change anytime soon.

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3. Slowdive (Pitchfork)

Slowdive was one of the more quietly celebrated shoegaze bands before their recent revival, allowing others to catch up on what many had known all along; this is a band worth holding onto. When Pitchfork announced that the band would be playing on US soil for the first time in over 20 years, there was reason for nonsensical levels of excitement. Not only did Slowdive meet those ridiculous levels of expectations, they temporarily turned the festival grounds into something completely undefinable. There wasn’t a set that weekend that inspired more looks of sheer awe. Fortunately, Pitchfork has their cameras rolling and lovingly documented a moment that’s not likely to be forgotten by anyone lucky enough to take part in it anytime soon.

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4. Bob Mould (Jimmy Kimmel Live)

That Bob Mould is still cranking out masterful records probably shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering his enviable track record of all-time classics (Zen Arcade, New Day Rising, Copper Blue, etc.). What does come as a welcome surprise is the commercial success he continues to maintain throughout what’s proving to be one of the more inspired solo resurgences since Dinosaur Jr.’s. Jimmy Kimmel recently invited Mould onto his show and received a masterclass in how to deliver great performances in return. With the serviceable Taylor Hawkins standing in for the inimitable Jon Wurster, Mould more than proves it only takes one revered elder statesman to carry the hell out of a live show.

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5. Pile (BreakThruRadio)

The Exploding in Sound takeover of BreakThruRadio’s Serious Business has yielded some of the series’ best entries. Pile continuing this trend shouldn’t be that shocking- the band’s currently boasting one of the most impressively consistent discographies in music. Special Snowflakes was one of the year’s best releases in any format, Dripping and Magic Isn’t Real both deserve to be considered classics, and somehow the band’s live show manages to blow the studio versions of those songs out of the water. “Tin Foil Hat” is the featured song here while both “Special Snowflakes” and “Fear of Drunk With” are intercut with some humorous banter about their long-standing issues with one specific city. Packaged together, this becomes absolutely essential viewing material.

Tag: Pitchfork